You may wonder at the snowdrops? We spied them when walking through the churchyard of All Saints, Leighton Buzzard and they brought to mind a previous rector of our church who had a love of snowdrops. Every year he would have a whip round so more could be planted in the churchyard and come January pockets of snowdrops would be dotted around. These were the first I had seen in 2021 and somehow they gave a spark of the hope that often accompanies new birth. As the church was locked we explored the fairly extensive churchyard, well maintained by one of the gardeners we stopped to chat to. He told us that in one corner they have beehives and in the summer they sell the honey in the church cafe. I thought that a lovely enterprise. He told us there were a couple of resident pheasant who have taken refuge from a nearby shooting estate and that a muntjac has also made himself at home in the graveyard, rather usefully eating the ivy!
R saw an oak tree with a plaque beneath it. Planted nearly 20 years ago it commemorated a local man who had died on 9/11, in the Twin towers terrorist attack in New York. There was something very poignant about the simplicity of the plaque and the oak tree steadily growing.
Moving on into the town centre it appears to have a mixture of independent shops and four of the big supermarket chains, a Morrisons competing in size with a Tesco, two Aldi’s and a Waitrose. So plenty of choice. I was surprised to see Iceland, Peacocks, Wilko and Millets, high street names that are rapidly disappearing closer to home.
I had seen a challenge on my Premier Radio email today – pledge to phone five people, with whom you are not in regular contact, to find out how they are and help combat loneliness. I decided to do just that and was so glad that I did. Those I rang genuinely seemed pleased to have a call out of the blue just asking how they were doing and I had some lovely conversations, reconnecting with friends I hadn’t spoken to in a few months. It reminded me that often it is in the simple things of life that we get the most satisfaction and a phone call may help make someone’s day that bit brighter. It just takes our time and for some of us we have more than enough to spare at the moment.
NarrowboatTLC 